Cloning and expression of Xylella fastidiosa antigens in Escherichia coli and Erwinia stewartii
Xylella fastidiosa DNA, partially digested with Sau3A, was ligated into the cosmid vector, pUCD615. Approximately 4500 ampicillin-resistant Escherichia coli colonies were obtained. The frequency of complementation of leucine auxotrophy in transfected E. coli indicated that the cosmid gene bank was representative of X. fastidiosa genomic DNA. Colonies were lysed directly onto nitrocellulose membranes using a thermo-inducible λ lysogen and screened for expression of X. fastidiosa antigens. Approximately 16.5% of a random sample of clones were found to express X. fastidiosa antigens as determined by Western blots. These proteins comigrated with proteins of X. fastidiosa and ranged in molecular weight from 10 000 to 160 000. Conjugation of several of the plasmids into Erwinia stewartii resulted in expression of the similar molecular weight cloned proteins with similar levels of expression as in E. coli.Key words: Xylella fastidiosa, Pierce's disease, immunological clone screening, thermo-inducible lysogeny.